Onefinestay, The Airbnb For The 1%, Launches Neighborhood Guides For Everyone

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Since 2010, Onefinestay has been in the business of helping visitors to London and New York City find posh accommodations in other people’s homes while they’re in town. One side benefit has been that those visitors also get access to a directory of things to do in local neighborhoods, created by its community of hosts. Now anyone will be see those recommendations, as the company is opening them up to all.

The U.K.-based startup provides a peer-to-peer marketplace of awesome homes that are available to rent while their owners are out of town. Onefinestay has a very curated list of high-quality places to stay while its high net worth hosts are out of town — at their summer homes, perhaps, or traveling to Asia for a month on business.

It gives its guests the best of both worlds: They get to stay in an actual home while visiting some of their favorite cities, but they get all the same amenities that one might expect from a high-class hotel. Onefinestay ensures that all homes are professionally cleaned before they are rented out, and they even provide their own towels and linens. There’s also a concierge service for guests, and the company even provides a free iPhone pre-loaded with neighborhood suggestions, so visitors can live like locals.

It’s kind of like Airbnb for people who usually stay in five-star hotels.

Anyway, about those neighborhood suggestions. Onefinestay has been collecting tips from both hosts and guests over the last few years. The site now has 20,000 recommendations for things to do, and that’s just for London and New York City. While these previously were only available to those people who used the service, the company is now opening them up for anyone to peruse.

Of course, Onefinestay isn’t alone in this. Airbnb has been rolling out neighborhood guides for various cities around the world since last fall, crowdsourcing suggestions from its hosts on things to do and places to go.

While Onefinestay might not attract a whole lot of new clients — after all, not everyone has $1,350 a night to stay in an all-white Flatiron loft — the neighborhood guides will give guests and non-guests alike valuable information for how to live like a local. The company has raised $15.9 million since being founded in 2010, from investors such as Index Ventures, Canaan Partners, and PROfounders Capital.

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CrunchBase

Overviewonefinestay is new category of upscale city accommodation that offers visitors the chance to stay in a distinctive home while the owner is out of town, with the services and amenities of a hotel. It allows homeowners to earn an extra, hassle-free income from their house or apartment at times when it would otherwise stand vacant.
Guests range from regular business travellers to families, and are …